By Jay Field MPBN news story OLD TOWN, Maine – Whitewater canoeists and kayakers from across the country are in Maine for a competition event that wouldn’t have been possible just three years ago. The Penobscot River Whitewater Nationals Regatta got underway in Old Town Thursday, with races scheduled to take place through Sunday afternoon. Read More
Penobscot River
New Poll Shows ‘Strong’ Support for National Park
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ favorite pollster found in a survey of 500 respondents across the 2nd Congressional District last month that 67 percent favored a proposed 150,000-acre north woods national park and recreation area, officials said Tuesday. Commissioned by leading park proponent Lucas St. Read More
Politics, Preservation, and Salmon Fishing
An annual rite of the Penobscot River sporting world brought a Maine angler and the year’s first Atlantic salmon to the president’s doorstep. By Catherine Schmitt Boston Globe news story ON MAY 25, 1992, Claude and Rosemae Westfall drove their Buick south on Maine’s I-95. Claude was dressed sharply if atypically in a green suit Read More
Why Baxter State Park’s Former Director Backs National Park Plan
By Buzz Caverly, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Fifty-five years ago, as a young man shortly out of high school, I was hired as a Baxter State Park ranger and assigned to the Russell Pond campground in the heart of the Wassataquoik Valley, at the eastern edge of the park. For years, Read More
Public Opinion Survey Shows Broad Support for New Proposed National Park and National Recreation Area
NRCM news release The Natural Resources Council of Maine today released the results of two public opinion survey questions about a proposal to establish a new National Park and National Recreation Area on 150,000 acres of land east of Baxter State Park. The questions, included in the Spring Critical Insights of Maine Tracking Survey, show Read More
Howland Fish Bypass Construction to Start Next Month
by Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story HOWLAND, Maine — Construction of the $3.5 million fish bypass at the former Howland tannery site is likely to begin next month, ending 11 years of preparation, officials said Friday. Construction crews already demolished the former powerhouse attached to the Howland Dam on the Read More
Inspired to Decide: A New National Park is a Good Idea
Like a lot of people I know, I have been perched on the sidelines of the debate about whether land owned by the nonprofit Elliottsville Plantation, Inc. (EPI) should become a national park and national recreation area or not. The proposed Katahdin Woods and Waters National Park and National Recreation Area would be located on Read More
Medway, East Millinocket Selectmen Finalizing List of National Park Requirements
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story MEDWAY, Maine — Medway’s Board of Selectmen wants a proposed North Woods national park to be no larger than 150,000 acres and East Millinocket’s leaders seek a voice in any park legislation, according to letters the towns are sending to the state’s congressional delegation. Read More
East Millinocket to Vote on National Park Plan
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Town leaders decided on Monday to let residents vote in June whether to support a proposed North Woods national park, but not before they tell Maine’s federal delegates what they want from the plan. The Board of Selectmen informally agreed Read More